


The Scales Have Fallen

by agirlnamedtruth



Series: Strength In Numbers [6]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Angst, Attempted Murder, Canonical Character Death, Dark, Grief/Mourning, Multi, Polyamory, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-18
Updated: 2014-03-18
Packaged: 2018-01-16 05:01:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1332913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agirlnamedtruth/pseuds/agirlnamedtruth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A balance has been found but Nimueh means to tip the scales again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Scales Have Fallen

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [Camelot Land](http://camelot-land.livejournal.com/) prompt "To Kill The King". 
> 
> This is set in a pre-canon AU 'verse ([Strength In Numbers](http://archiveofourown.org/series/81097)) where Uther, Ygraine, Gaius and Nimueh were in a poly-relationship before Arthur's birth.

She had the blade pitched over his heart. She would do it. For what he had done. For what he had taken from the world, he would pay. For what he had made her take.

Nimueh lowered the knife a fraction. It was an ornamental dagger that had belonged to Ygraine. Which was fitting. She was using a weapon Ygraine had used. Uther was sleeping in the bed Ygraine had slept in. In the bed her son was conceived in. In the bed she'd died in.

She steeled herself. She could do it. She could kill the King. She would do it. And the world might find a balance and return Ygraine to her. Together they would leave this place, perhaps, and pretend none of it had ever happened. Or perhaps they would stay, regents to the young prince.

And if the fates did not see fit to give back what they had stolen, well, the world would be better rid of Uther. She would spirit away the child and raise him in Ygraine's image, as she would have wanted. He looked so like her. It was so unfair she'd never seen him. She would have loved him so.

Nimueh's hands shook and Uther's eyes fluttered open. She dropped the knife onto the sheets, unable to hold it steady. Uther didn't say anything; he just looked at her, confused, hurt, unable to understand the cost of the price they'd paid.

"It's my fault," Nimueh admitted. "She's gone and it's my fault."

She fell to her knees beside the bed, the unforgiving floor bruising them with its touch. And Uther leaned down, pulling her up into his arms. Holding her. Comforting her. How dare he, when it was his fault as well.

"How could you, Uther, how could you ask such a thing of me? You knew there was a price. I told you there'd be a price and now she's gone. Because you couldn't accept the hand fate had dealt you," Nimueh said, prying his arms away from her shoulders and hitting every inch of him she could reach.

She pulled back as far as she was able and landed a blow across his cheek, so hard her palm burned with the sting of it. "She would never forgive you. I will never forgive you."

Uther pushed back the covers and stood, dragging Nimueh up with him. "She might be gone, Nim-"

"She is gone," Nimueh interrupted.

"But," Uther continued, dragging Nimueh unwillingly across the room until they were stood before a crib. "She would have forgiven us."

"I doubt that," Nimueh huffed, beast-like, unable to believe such a thing.

"Look," Uther said, glancing down at the baby sleeping in the crib, blissfully unaware of the agony that surrounded him. "Look at him."

Nimueh looked at him. She'd seen him before. Along with Gaius, she'd helped deliver him. It was her that had seen Ygraine's eyes lose their focus as she passed out. She'd carried the baby over to her, hoping to place him in her arms but it was too late. She stared down at him. He looked so like her, even though he was not yet a day old. It was like he'd taken Ygraine's life for himself. Nimueh looked away, hating her thoughts and herself for thinking them. He was an innocent in all this.

"This is what she would have wanted," Uther said, as if she was supposed to have had some great revelation looking upon the child.

"This is what you wanted," Nimueh corrected him, pulling herself free. "Never forget that Uther Pendragon. This is what you wanted."

**Author's Note:**

> As of 01/01/18, I'm opting to disable comments. [More information here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13077201).


End file.
